Emery Gilbert died on the Wickery bridge alongside her parents the summer before her junior year. But, somehow, her soul survives and she awakes alone on the other side. It's here that she befriends a certain original vampire who educates her on the...
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"Being dead sucks, I'll start off by saying that."
"When you're dead everything is cold, and weirdly quiet. It's nothing like they tell you in the movies."
Emery props her phone up against her ear as she rocks back and forth on the old porch swing. The creaking of its chains the only other sound besides the occasional rustle of leaves.
"I mean it took me a while to even figure out that I was dead, honestly. But this strange dude named Kol found me wandering around the streets, and he's like "yo, this is supernatural purgatory," and I was like, "Kol, the hell are you talking about"," she gives an unamused chuckle. The cold wind that was constantly blowing on the "other side" blew through her hair and she batted it aside with annoyance.
"Also, the wind here never fucking ceases and its so annoying. Anyway, basically, I learned that vampires, witches, and werewolves are all real. That'd be cool and all except it does not explain in the least bit why I'm here. Last time I checked I can't cast spells, turn into a wolf, or move at the speed of light but- who knows. I guess there's an upside to this place... I get to live in our house," she mutters as she looks down at the porch of her childhood home. A wave of sadness passes over her as she takes in the grey tinted wood. Everything on the other side was tinted grey, making it look dreary and well... dead.
"I don't know how much time has passed but it hasn't been long. Kol is keeping me company and even suggested I try talking to you. I told him he's crazy if he thinks I'm going to talk to a dead phone but I think it's weirdly helping ... I wish you could hear me, and that I could hear your voice."
"I-I know that mom and dad are dead," she mutters, tears building in her dark green eyes. "But I refuse to believe you are. I know you lived, I can just feel it in my gut. I miss you so much Elena."
3 months later
"So I have a development... Kol and I kissed... Super weird, right?" Emery said airily. "But also, super not weird because he's ridiculously hot. Okay, sure, he's a vampire but like, who am I to judge? We're both in this weird purgatory for no reason anyway, why not keep things interesting. We're still trying to figure out why I'm here. The only thing we've come up with is something called the doppelganger. Apparently Kol is part of some family who knew this girl hundreds of years ago named Katherine Pierce. Get this, she looked exactly fucking like us. Well I guess looks, if she's still alive. Kol says she turned herself into a vampire like him. I don't know if I believe him, but supposedly the doppelganger is needed for some spell which makes it a supernatural creature. But, the problem is, I don't look exactly like this Katherine chick. According to Kol, she had dark brown eyes like yours. So I guess you'd be the doppelganger because my eyes are green... so what the fuck does that make me?" Emery set the dead cellphone down on the porch railing and ran off to tell Kol her realization.
14 months
"Kols gone," Emery sniffs as she wipes her nose on her sleeve. Her breath shakes as she tightly grips the grass in front of her. "I-I don't know what happened but I woke up this morning and he's nowhere to be found. I guess they pulled the dagger out of him or something, I'm not sure. I don't really get how it works. Either way I'm alone now-"
She drops the phone as grief overwhelms her. Emery was sat in the middle of an empty replica of her hometown crying into a black screen, to someone who couldn't hear her. She felt insane. Kol had been the only thing in this purgatory that had kept her going. He held her as she cried for her parents, her siblings, her friends, and herself. He told her every story of his past... and she fell in love with him.
18 months
Emery had been alone for what seemed like an eternity. She tried to occupy herself in the empty town, but by the time he vanished she and Kol had done anything worth doing a million times over. She felt on the brink of insanity, or maybe she already was.
"Mmm oh darling I love you, I love you, I love you," she sings poorly as she strolls the main square, kicking at the grass that never seemed to grow. It was always fall in purgatory, she missed the sun. The wind seemed to shift then, something that did not go unnoticed by the Gilbert girl.
Almost as if the universe had read her mind a white light beamed at her, blinding her unaccustomed eyes. Emery shields her eyes and moves towards the light. Nothing in her hesitated. No matter where the light brought her, there was no point in staying where she was any longer.
She felt nauseous, as if she was spinning on a carnival ride. It spins her over and over until everything comes to a standstill. Emery rubs her eyes as the light dims and she jumps in surprise. There was noise, a lot of it.
She opens her eyes to the floor and gasps. It wasn't grey... nothing was grey.
